A few years back my local amateur team- Ackworth had more in attendance than a London Broncos home game in the Super League. It was laughable, how can that be justified that a club with amateur status and very little investment can attract more interest than a game played in the top division of our game with a multi thousand pound per game wage bill? and its not like they were new to the game either, they had been around for 15 years at least at that point.

It's time to consolidate and get it back up north, it's not working diwn there as not enough people are bothered, the majority see it as below them anyhow because it's a working mans game, played up north where they all talk funny.

The way Celtic Crusaders have acted stinks but with the full support of the RFL they were always going to have their way. A team based in North Wales would have been better from the start if taking geography into consideration, although let's face it - logic isn't a RFL strongpoint...

I hope so too but some grubby underhand deal will no doubt be done. If they agree then I want them to make sure that the new club play with exactly the same limitations on foreign players/ budgets etc as every other club.

I hope so too but some grubby underhand deal will no doubt be done. If they agree then I want them to make sure that the new club play with exactly the same limitations on foreign players/ budgets etc as every other club.

Phil, I really don't care how many new clubs come to our game. As long as we all play by the same rules and have equal chance to progress.I can but dream eh??

Phil, I really don't care how many new clubs come to our game. As long as we all play by the same rules and have equal chance to progress.I can but dream eh??

You have hit the nail on the head robin , we should all play by the same rules and that includes super league clubs . money distribution should be spread more throughout the pro leagues thereby giving lower clubs chance to develop young players and progress themselves. seems too logical to me .

The strength of a ladder should be gauged by the strength of the bottom rungs , imo .

You have hit the nail on the head robin , we should all play by the same rules and that includes super league clubs . money distribution should be spread more throughout the pro leagues thereby giving lower clubs chance to develop young players and progress themselves. seems too logical to me .

The strength of a ladder should be gauged by the strength of the bottom rungs , imo .

Strong roots and all that. I have said this time and again. You cannot hope to expand without a solid base. (except with the stupid yanks that would cheer a ###### on if there was adequate refreshment breaks)

A few years back my local amateur team- Ackworth had more in attendance than a London Broncos home game in the Super League. It was laughable, how can that be justified that a club with amateur status and very little investment can attract more interest than a game played in the top division of our game with a multi thousand pound per game wage bill? and its not like they were new to the game either, they had been around for 15 years at least at that point.

It's time to consolidate and get it back up north, it's not working diwn there as not enough people are bothered, the majority see it as below them anyhow because it's a working mans game, played up north where they all talk funny.

Mick, while i agree with your argument that we should stop the costly attempts at expansion i really don't think it will help teams below SL because they are already considering retreating to the heartlands and reducing SL to 12 teams. This will leave us in exactly the same position as we are now. 12 teams will share out the money instead of 14 and anyone below them will still only get the scraps that are left over. What is desperately needed is a root and branch reform of RL from semi pro upwards. We also need leaders with vision and a plan for RL that is further than next Wed, which is what we have now.

Sadly though as a Batley season ticket holder and lover of rugby League and having lived in Wrexham for 5 years or so now, I would love to know how exactly they are going to build a Super League attended club in a town with a smaller population than that of Batley, and with absolutely no interest in RL at all? With almost as big a population of immigrant workers as Batley in the form of Polish, Portuguese and Iraqi's rather than asian as in Batley, are not particularly rugby league hot beds. Yes, Chester is only 15 miles up the road, (a town who on the whole has no idea rugby league even exists either), and anyone with a burning desire to watch RL who has moved here from a RL hotbed, would travel 5 minutes more to watch either, Cup Winners Warrington or a similar distance to watch St Helens or Widnes.

Plus, the new season is almost upon us, and nowhere on the local news or indeed in the local press here would you know what is being planned in relation to a RL Club moving to Wrexham. Maybe once it is finalised there will be some, but as yet there has been absolutely no promotion of the Leeds game which has been confirmed. I honestly can't see the handful of fans they have built at Celtic travelling either, as a 3 hour journey for a home game is going to be a sticking point for most fans I'd have thought. From a selfish point of view, it would suit me down to the ground to have a team to watch on my doorstep hopefully on a Friday night, and I will go and watch them, as I love the game and it's always better live, as I have with Saints and Warrington on occasions.

However, for me, I can't see me going week in week out, as it's a bit like watching the Challenge Cup final, it might be a real spectacle, and a great game played by superior players, but it does not have the passion of watching the 'Dogs, where the result means something, and no matter how bad we may be on occasions, (Toulose at home last year was shocking) there is always next week to look forward to and the knowing we can't play that bad again, and the anticipation of next season like the forthcoming one where we are looking stronger than ever, (like everyone else though, we do every year!) will never have the same appeal watching anyone else, even it is on my doorstep.

relax folks it IS the pantomime season after all..and the biggest joke of the lot is mssrs lewis ,wood n co.the prestige of the game is now at an all time low thanks to these "visionary" jokers.we are a laughing stock.as i believe it the SL franchise was awarded to a club in SOUTH WALES .so maybe the wrexham globetrotters should step aside and let the "new" south wales club take over thier franchise and the crusaders could then take THIER place in championship 1 lol....then the whole process could start again.................iestyn packs in and comes back to fev etc..(NURSE!..he's art of bed again) ...i need a ruddy holiday ...come on scotty, next flight out

All those pro expansion, all those pro Celtic and giving them a helping hand and who were quick to have a pop at the so called "traditionalists" have gone quiet. Harlequins struggling, Gateshead struggling, Celtic acting like a club ran by gypsies,.... erm.... I'm sure there are many people saying "I told you so".

I thought all this expansion palarva was meant to benefit the game and not make it even more of laughing stock?

All those pro expansion, all those pro Celtic and giving them a helping hand and who were quick to have a pop at the so called "traditionalists" have gone quiet. Harlequins struggling, Gateshead struggling, Celtic acting like a club ran by gypsies,.... erm.... I'm sure there are many people saying "I told you so".

I thought all this expansion palarva was meant to benefit the game and not make it even more of laughing stock?

Yes, I could say I told you so, like many others, and I could also split my sides at the turmoil that the so called "expansion" to our game seems to be causing, but, and again I suppose many others will feel the same, I find it more sickening that we as a club were set back 50 years in status in the name of "progress", to make way for clubs such as London and Paris, to say nothing of the untold millions simply thrown down the pan in persuit of this pipe dream. Money which I feel could and should have been used for the benefit of all heartlands clubs. Some years ago clubs outside SL were accused of "squandering"what cash they were given - a pitance in comparison to the amounts sqandered by the powers that be in trying to expand the proffessional game to virgin territories.But what do I know ? I have only watched the game for over 50 years.

The way Celtic Crusaders have acted stinks but with the full support of the RFL they were always going to have their way. A team based in North Wales would have been better from the start if taking geography into consideration, although let's face it - logic isn't a RFL strongpoint...

But then the powers that be in the RFL couldn't have used the 'distance from another club' as a reason to fast track them to Super League. This way they do it by stealth and expect everyone to 'forget' previous 'rules'. And now we have rumblings of another Club in Bridgend - again being fast tracked into our division. Watch this space next season when the RFL make a case to 'promote' them to Super League.Anyone with an ounce of sense knows that if you want to expand the game geographically, it has to be done a bit at a time. e.g. Sheffield, Harrogate and so on. To try to start clubs in Gateshead, London and South Wales is folly. But let's remember, the RFL are experts at not being able to see the wood for the trees!!

I wish I had the wherewithall to wrestle control of the sport away from those who are managing our game right now. Today, I'm a little tetchy. Irritated by one thing or another. Usually my interest (my wife refers to it as an obsessive compulsion) in Featherstone Rovers, and Rugby League, is my chosen form of escapism. A place where I can surround myself with friends with a similar affliction of rugby. A place free from the crapola of everyday life.

But increasingly the way our game is managed leaves me feeling more irritated and hacked off with the direction those in control are taking our game - even the sanctury that is rugby is being hi-jacked and ordered to fly straight into the gates of He_ll!!

I wish I had the wherewithall to wrestle control of the sport away from those who are managing our game right now. Today, I'm a little tetchy. Irritated by one thing or another. Usually my interest (my wife refers to it as an obsessive compulsion) in Featherstone Rovers, and Rugby League, is my chosen form of escapism. A place where I can surround myself with friends with a similar affliction of rugby. A place free from the crapola of everyday life.

But increasingly the way our game is managed leaves me feeling more irritated and hacked off with the direction those in control are taking our game - even the sanctury that is rugby is being hi-jacked and ordered to fly straight into the gates of He_ll!!

I have absolutely no faith in the RFL to manage our game.

The self centred hypocrisy surrounding this game and the people that run it has me shaking my head in disbelief. This week i was informed i have been successfull in applying for a grant from sport England for my junior team of £8,600, which is fantastic news. The Chief Exec of Sport England is our very own Richard Lewis, on the form there was a question that asked, "does your group exclude or partially exclude any person or persons" if the answer is yes this funding will not be for you.You couldnt make it up you really couldnt.